The majority of transportation infrastructure, e.g., in the United States, including bridges, pavements and runways, tunnels, ports and harbor structures, and parking structures, has ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete as its major structural component. High-rise buildings, industrial structures, energy structures (e.g., nuclear power plants, dams, and wind mill foundations) also use significant amounts of concrete, which is the second most used material by humans in terms of volume, after water. The advances in materials science and the technology of OPC concrete over the past few years have brought in revolutionary changes in design and construction.
The advent of high-performance and self-consolidating concretes containing several mineral/chemical admixtures has improved the fresh and hardened concrete properties. However, several areas of concern still exist, especially with respect to adequate characterization of the material (e.g., concrete) for quality control/quality assurance and acceptance criteria when delivered. In addition, novel concretes, such as pervious and roller-compacted concretes are increasingly being used for specific applications. Currently, there exist no quantitative field measurement method to characterize the material prior to its placement to certify the acceptance criteria specified by the designer and its performance prediction. Quality control of concrete in the fresh state is still being ascertained using the slump test (according to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) C143), which is a subjective qualitative test and does not provide a reliable quantification of the state of the material.